Council diary

A summary of city council actions across the valley on Monday night:

Kalispell

Approved the purchase of 1.9 acres on Sheepherder's Hill - next to West Valley Drive - to build a new 2 million-gallon in-ground water tank. The city will pay $88,000 to Becker Living Trust for the land. The project is expected to go out for bids in early 2007.

The city currently has a 100,000-gallon water tank serving its higher elevations, and 4.4 million gallons of storage capacity to serve its lower elevations. The new is supposed to help serve Kalispell's higher elevations.

Heard Mayor Pam Kennedy set a Nov. 6 vote on whether to hold a Nov. 20 public hearing to determine if the city should sell an easement to Dan Abbott at 86 Juniper Bend Drive.

This proposed hearing is linked to a dispute between the city staff and the Abbott family, which built a second floor above its garage next to the public Buffalo Hills Golf Course - which was a zoning violation. A municipal judge recently fined the Abbotts $1,500 and ordered them to fix the violation: The new two-story structure required a larger setback from the property line.

The hearing is required before an easement is sold. But the city staff and some council member contend that the upper floor added to the garage breaks the law in that the Abbotts never sought proper building permits and never received city building inspections. The city staff considers the matter important as a fairness issue pertaining to its enforcement of building regulations for other projects.

Abbott said he thought his construction contractor handled all of the appropriate permits and told him no setback violation would occur.

Some council members leaned toward linking an easement sale to the extra construction passing building inspections - which raises questions on whether the upper floor needs to be torn up so the inspections can legitimately occur.

Six of the Abbotts' neighbors asked the City Council on Monday to reach a compromise with the Abbotts.

Gave final approval to installing a new stormwater impact fee for a new home of $1,090, dropping the water impact fee from $2,749 to $2,155, and increasing the sewer impact fee from $2,196 to $2,430. Impact fees are charged one time for buildings being added to the city's utilities, and are supposed to help offset the extra burden they will place on Kalispell systems.

Extended the Kalispell Area Chamber of Commerce's lease on its city-owned Depot Park building from 2011 to 2041 for $1 a year. The proposed extension is prompted by Chamber plans to expand the building.

Delayed voting on the final conditions to allow three single-family houses and 20 townhouses - Stratford Village Phase Four - to be built on three acres at the end of Bluestone Drive. The city government is looking at making the developer forfeit bond on Stratford Village Phase One because it has not met all of the infrastructure requirements. The council wanted more time to think about whether the Phase One situation should affect its decision on Phase Four.

COLUMBIA FALLS

Heard from Flathead County Solid Waste Director Dave Prunty that the city must consider curbside garbage pickup or another method for new subdivisions as they are developed and families move in. Columbia Falls' green-box site is the county's busiest, accounting for 17 to 18 percent of the volume of garbage hauled to the landfill by its trucks. Prunty said the county can handle Columbia Falls' current volume, but may need to shut it down if increased volume causes problems with safety or efficiency. Kalispell now provides city garbage service and Whitefish contracts with a local hauler, but both are mandatory and included in city fees paid by homeowners.

Approved the final plat request for River Park Phase 3, after settling on a value of $19,000 per acre. Based on that figure, developer Ray Jones will pay the city about $12,900 cash in lieu of park land within the residential development. Discussion had been tabled from the Oct. 2 meeting, pending an agreement on the land value.

Approved an addendum to the city's sewer agreement with Meadow Lake Resort, setting limits on the volume it can discharge to the municipal sewer plant. Problems have developed over recent years from an unusually high volume of clean water seeping into the system before it leaves Meadow Lake and adding to the volume requiring treatment. Meadow Lake's water and sewer board must approve the agreement. If that board makes major changes, the agreement must come back to the city council.

Set the next meeting of the council's sign committee for 7 p.m. Nov. 13 in City Hall. Committee members are expected to finish a revision of the city's sign ordinance, then present it to the city-county planning board Dec. 12. It would go to the council in January.

- The Daily Inter Lake